Crony Capitalism

Here is a good discussion of crony capitalism.  He covers the topic well and with great brevity.  Bigger government inevitably leads to more lobbying to capture some of that growing pool of money.  You want to get rid of lobbyists?  Cut the amount of money government spends.  With a $4 trillion budget up for grabs, anyone who can field a lobbyist is going to try to siphon some of that cash.  Duh!  I have mentioned before that it is more of a protection racket.  Microsoft spent squat to lobby the government.  The government took notice of this company gushing with cash and wanted its cut.  Voila!  Suddenly, we have the United States v. Microsoft Corporation, where Microsoft was dragged to court for daring to give their product - Internet Explorer - away for free.  Monopolist!!!  However, Microsoft now has lobbyists in Washington, paying the protection money that Congress demands lest further punitive action is taken.

 

Whether one sees the issue as government shaking down private enterprise or private enterprise buying off government officials or some combination of the two, an expansive government is the root cause.  Limit government to limit the crony capitalism.